Jhansi Lakshmi Bai became the queen of Jhansi through her marriage in her early years. She proved to be one of the most spirited rebel leaders of India against British rule, when her husband died and the kingdom was threatened. Her career as a Queen of Jhansi and her leadership and courage in fighting display her exemplary personality and philosophy in life. As a woman, she achieved distinction for her courageous fight against British and her name is immortalized in Indian History.

Career

Annexation of Jhansi

Lakshmi Bai was married to a man much older than herself, and spent most of her early wedded life serving the family. Her greatest pleasure outside family chores was to look after the excellent library in the palace. In 1853, Gangadhar Rao became critically ill and faced the prospect of his kingdom being taken over by the British after his death, as he had no legitimate heir. The British India Company had already passed a self-serving law that once the ruler of an Indian State died without an heir, the state would come under the company’s rule. To save Jhansi from this humiliation, Gangadhar Rao adopted a son just a day before his death and called him Damodar Rao. In 1854, Lord Dalhousie, the Governor General gave instructions for the annexation of Jhansi in contravention of the Treaty of 1817 as he refused to accept the six-year old Damodar Rao as the prince. To add insult to injury, grants to the temples were stopped and the Rani was allowed to live on in the palace on a pension. All of Lakshmi Bai’s protests went unheeded. For the next three years Lakshmi Bai led a quiet life on the small pension she received from the British. The new rulers too, were happy that Jhansi would submit to their rule without revolt.

The Revolt of 1857

Discontent had been building up among the Indian soldiers employed in the East India Company for some time. The reasons were mostly cultural and religious. Frustration led to desperation and on June 4 1857, the sepoys (soldiers) incited by Lachman Rao, a Brahmin in the service of the Rani, began to abuse the British officers and assaulted them. They proclaimed the Rani as head of State after capturing the fort and killing the British officers. Rani Lakshmi Bai fearlessly took up the challenge of leading her soldiers in battle. In March 1858, when the British attacked Jhansi, the Rani was in charge of defending the fort as the British army advanced and lay siege. Her army put up a most heroic resistance, one account of the battle reads thus: “The battle raged furiously from street to street, house to house and from room to room and the defenders fought like tigers”. When the soldiers had no ammunition left, they hurled stones, logs and anything else they could lay their hands on. Eventually however, the British captured the palace and killed the people mercilessly. “every man was hacked to pieces” -as the British officers were determined to avenge the killing of British officers a year earlier.

But fortunately, Lakshmi Bai was able to escape, slipping out under the cover of night dressed as a man, with Damodar Rao and a small band of loyal followers. She moved on to Kalpi and when that too was captured, she joined up with Tantia Tope, another rebel leader. They took the bold decision of attacking Gwalior, whose ruler was an ally of the British. Gwalior fell into their hands but could not be held for long as the British columns converged upon it from different directions. The Rani rode out with a band of her troops to defend the road leading from Kotah Ki Sarai to Gwalior. They were dressed in blue uniforms and white turbans. The Rani’s close friend and companion Mandarbai, accompanied her. Chased by the British troops, Lakshmi Bai and her companions surged their horses towards the Sonerakha Nullah, a narrow stream between steep rocks. The account of the ensuing encounter and the tragic death of Lakshmi Bai is best described in the words of Malleson, the official British historian of the Revolt.

He wrote: “Clad in the attire of a man and mounted on a horseback, the Rani of Jhansi might have been seen by animating her troops throughout the day. When inch by inch the British troops pressed through the defile and when reaching its summit, Smith ordered the Hussars to charge, the Rani of Jhansi boldly fronted the British horsemen….. When her comrades failed her, her horse, inspite of her efforts carried her along with the others. With them she might have escaped but that her horse, crossing the canal near the cantonment, stumbled and fell. A Hussar close upon her track, ignorant of her sex and rank, cut her down. She fell to rise no more”. Her soldiers laid the dying Rani on a haystack near the nullah. Her last words were, “Don’t let the British touch my dead body”. When the British arrived, they found only ashes. The revolt failed and the leaders paid with their lives. Their liberty and property were forfeited as price of their failure. But the story of Lakshmi Bai’s great courage and determination served as an inspiration to all.

Early Years

Lakshmi Bai was born on November 21, 1835 at Varanasi, the holy city of North India. She had been named Manikarnika, after one of the bathing Ghats (banks of the River Ganges) in the city. Her mother fondly called her ‘Manu’. Manu’s father worked as a courtier in the court of the then Maratha ruler Peshwa Baji Rao II and she spent a great part of childhood in the court. She was a strong willed and brave girl and soon became a great favourite with the Peshwa. Her life took an unexpected turn when a proposal came from the royal family of Jhansi for Manikarnika to marry the ruling scion of the family - Gangadhar Rao. Jhansi was a small kingdom in state of Uttar Pradesh and Gangadhar Rao had just lost his wife. He sent his priest Tantia Dikshit in search of a girl from a noble family and Dikshit came across Manu in the court of Baji Rao. He consulted her horoscope and told her father that his daughter would become a queen and bring great honour to her husband’s family through her deeds. Thus the marriage was settled and Manikarnika, became Lakshmi Bai, the queen of Jhansi.

EducationAchievements

Rani Lakshmi Bai was one among a handful of India’s royalty who dared to defy the British and organise a revolt against them. But because she was a woman, and in particular a widow with a young son, her heroic struggle took on a legendary dimension and she was almost deified as a revolutionary icon. Moreover, her image as a fiery warrior dressed in male attire and astride a horse never fails to evoke admiration. Over the years this image has grown to epic proportions and she is still revered as a symbol of womanpower and national pride. In 1942, when Netaji Subash Chandra Bose founded the INA (Indian National Army) to fight the British, he named one battalion, composed entirely of women as the Rani Jhansi Regiment in honour of the great rebel leader of Jhansi.

Personality

As a child Manikarnika never dreamed that one day she would be a queen whose deeds of valour would be celebrated as romantic tales of heroism or that she would be the subject of many a village bard’s songs. But she was intrinsically brave and full of life, and impressed everyone by her forthright manners. There is a story that once when she was a young girl, a large cobra appeared in the court of Peshwa Baji Rao II, frightening everyone with it’s menacing hood. Eventually it was killed, but Manu surprised everyone by saying that she had liked the way the snake was able to scare everyone! Years later, that same rebellious streak showed up as she fearlessly confronted the British and led her soldiers in a fierce battle. “The young, energetic, proud, unbeseeching and uncompromising Ranee” not only became a symbol of courage and an inspiration for her countrymen, she also earned the admiration of her bitterest enemy – the British.